Herrera Helps Native Village Prepare for Climate Change Impacts

Herrera is helping a coastal community on the shores of the Bering Sea prepare for significant changes to their community as a result of climate change. The Native Village of Shishmaref is a small village on Sarichef Island in the Chukchi Sea, a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. The Village has made international news because of accelerated erosion due to melting permafrost, sea level rise and a reduction in the duration of shore-fast sea ice. Although the Village plans to relocate further inland, the cost of that move is significant and will take several years to fund. To assist the Village in the meantime, Herrera is analyzing sea level rise, producing a map of inundation frequency for three future dates based on the methodology of recent Washington State guidance applied to the special conditions present at Shishmaref. The results will be presented to the community in 2020.